At Barton Malow, we’ve never been content to build things the way they’ve always been built. We’ve looked for better methods, better tools, and better ways to deliver value. Construction has always been a relationship business, but it’s also, increasingly, a data business. For too long, the industry has been slow to harness what that data can do. That’s changing.
In early 2026, we launched an enterprise-wide AI initiative, and the adoption has been striking. Within 95 days, we had more than 800 active users, which is a rate that significantly outpaced prior technology rollouts. That kind of organic momentum tells you something: when a tool genuinely helps people do their jobs better, they don’t need to be pushed.
But adoption numbers only tell part of the story. Client value is another piece that we’re building toward.
What AI Looks Like On The Ground
We’re using AI today to improve how we serve our clients across the full project lifecycle. Our teams are reviewing things like insurance certificates, analyzing financials, building custom dashboards, and getting faster answers to the kinds of questions that used to require tracking down three different people. We’ve already seen AI-assisted processes cut help desk resolution times by 50%. On jobsites, the goal is the same: get the right information to the right person faster, so they can act on it.
AI also enables us to move faster on preconstruction analysis, flag risks earlier in the project lifecycle, and provide more transparent reporting, freeing our people to spend more time on the things that matter most.
The results are showing up in our own organization, too. Sixty-five percent of our leadership team uses AI daily, with an average confidence rating of 4.1 out of 5, and those who use it daily report even higher confidence. Most telling, 74% of our senior leaders expect AI to have a large or transformative impact on Barton Malow over the next three years, believing it can drive 25% or greater efficiency improvements across the business. We’ve built a dedicated Innovation Leadership team to set the direction for how we adopt and deploy these tools with a clear mandate to measure results, learn quickly, and scale what works. That level of organizational commitment shapes how seriously we’re investing in making this work.
The outcome is a team that spends less time on routine tasks and more time in direct partnerships with our clients, solving problems, managing risk, and making the judgment calls that protect project outcomes.
AI-Assisted, Not AI-Automated
One thing I want to be clear about: AI-assisted is not AI-automated. We are not removing the human judgment from the process. We’re removing the friction that slows human judgment down. Our team members are still making the calls that matter. AI helps them make those calls with better information, faster.
The longer-term vision is deeper integration, connecting AI to the tools and data we already use so that project teams, and eventually owners, have real-time visibility without having to ask for it. That level of transparency doesn’t just improve efficiency. It builds the kind of trust that makes partnerships last.
We Want to Hear from You
We want to build our AI strategy with input from the people we serve. If you have a few minutes, we’d like to hear from you. What parts of working with a construction partner could be better? Where do you see the biggest opportunity for AI to improve communication, cost certainty, scheduling, or reporting? What would make your job easier? Your perspectives will directly shape how we prioritize AI investments over the coming year.
The companies that lead this industry over the next decade won’t just be the ones with access to the best tools; that will be table stakes for everyone. The differentiator will be the people, the judgment, and the 100 years of institutional knowledge on which those tools are built. That’s what we’re working to bring forward.
About the Author: Rob Sayre is Vice President of Technology at Barton Malow, bringing a career built on delivering advanced solutions and technology strategies for large, complex organizations. A strategic thought leader, Rob works at the intersection of innovation and execution — empowering teams to solve complex technology challenges and giving industry leaders a tangible competitive advantage.
Barton Malow launched an enterprise-wide AI initiative in early 2026. Within 95 days, the program had more than 800 active users — a rate that significantly outpaced prior technology rollouts — driven largely by organic adoption as team members found the tools genuinely useful in their day-to-day work.
Barton Malow teams are using AI across the project lifecycle to review insurance certificates, analyze financials, build custom dashboards, and surface answers faster. AI-assisted processes have already cut help desk resolution times by 50%. On jobsites, the focus is on getting the right information to the right person faster — enabling earlier risk identification, more transparent reporting, and more time for high-value client work.
No. Barton Malow’s approach is AI-assisted, not AI-automated. The goal is to remove friction from decision-making, not remove the decision-maker. Team members still make the calls that matter — AI gives them better information to make those calls faster. The longer-term vision is deeper integration that gives project teams and owners real-time visibility, building the kind of transparency that strengthens client partnerships.
